Table 1. Current anti-thrombotic agents.

This table describes the current anti-thrombotic agents that are commonly/currently used in patients. Included are descriptions of how the respective drugs are delivered, their half-life, when it is used, how it works and any adverse effects.

Drug	Time/Onset of Action	Description
Warfarin	12 hour delay in action Hypoprothrombinaemia 36–72 hours Duration of action 4–5 days	Vitamin K antagonist inhibits synthesis of coagulation factors Standard care for long-term prophylaxis of coagulation High risk of bleeding, dose monitoring is necessary.
Heparin	IV: 30–60 seconds SubQ: 20–30 minutes Short half-life (~1 hour)	Indirect thrombin and Factor Xa inhibitor (activates anti-thrombin III) Current standard for emergency anticoagulation. High risk of bleeding and heparin induced thrombocytopenia (HIT)
tPA	IV: 30 seconds Short half-life IV bolus followed by Infusion	Within 3 hours of event, or 6 hours, arterial catheter Patients with early onset of stroke, PE, AMI High risk of bleeding, neurotoxicity
SK	Two half–lifes: fast ~18 mins and slower ~83 mins	Fibrinolytic: thrombolytic therapy Least expensive fibrinolytic agent, but is antigenic, also causes hypotension (dose related)
UK	Short half-life (~20mins) IV bolus followed by infusion	Fibrinolytic agent more commonly used for peripheral intravascular thrombus and occluded catheters

Abbreviations found within the table-IV, intravenous; SK, streptokinase; SubQ, Subcutaneous; tPA, tissue plasminogen activator; UK, Urokinase; uPA, urokinase plasminogen activator; uPA-T, urokinase plasminogen activator-thrombin.